Why are my Facebook ads getting likes from people I'm not targeting?

by kps88
5 replies
I've got a campaign set up that's targeting a very niche audience. The targeting criteria is people who live in India and have an interest in the band "Flight of the Conchords", set up for website clicks.

I occasionally check the profiles of people liking the ad and I find most of them do not have "Flight of the Conchords" listed anywhere in their usually long list of likes/interests. And, without meaning to sound presumptuous, you can tell from their other likes they couldn't be further away from the sort of audience I'm trying to attract. A bit like you trying to attract Metallica fans and getting people who like Justin Bieber clicking on your advert.

I feel like I'm just throwing money away with each of these clicks. Any idea how is it they are even able to see my advert? Any advice on how I can fix this? Thanks.
#ads #facebook #likes #people #targeting
  • Profile picture of the author overtonis
    having same exact issue. Maybe I am doing it wrong but in 'interest' section I very specifically list all wordings for ethnic group I am targeting in USA. Everyone BUT that group is liking the post. I was going to contact FB ad support but it turns out you have to pay them to talk to them.
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    • Profile picture of the author kps88
      Yeah it's ridiculous how hard it is to get a simple answer from Facebook considering their product isn't working at the moment. The online help section just seems to be people posting a bunch of pre-rehearsed answers.
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    • Profile picture of the author kps88
      Originally Posted by Shaolinsteve View Post

      Are those ads also getting shares?
      Nope. Zero shares. I've had to stop the ad since the unwanted clicks just kept rolling in.
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  • Profile picture of the author karthickk3
    That's a great question and must be a real worry. See, some of the reasons I find for this are:
    1. Facebook cannot always target the right people, some time ads meet wrong audience too.
    2. Audience's interest change, rarely again.
    3. Friends of friends who may not be your target audience also will like your post. For example: Although your ad is pointed and liked by your targeted user only, still his friends also will see your ad, just because they are the friends of your targeted users and your targeted users like it. If you ask whether all the liked users friends will see your ads, it depends on the influence every lilked user has in his/her network.

    There maybe few other reasons too, but I think this may give us some clue about why we see irrelevant audience at times.
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